Two Minnesota Hotels Made This Year’s ‘Historic Hotels of America’ List

Minnesota just celebrated its 160th birthday earlier this month, and while we're not quite as historic as some states out east, there are two Minnesota hotels that made the Historic Hotels of America list this year.

If you're a history buff-- like I am-- you'll probably want to check out these hotels. Heck, one of them is even right here in southeast Minnesota. And being included on this list is pretty prestigious.

According to the Historic Hotels of America website, to be included on the Historic Hotels of America list, a hotel has to meet some pretty stringent criteria:

"They have to faithfully maintain their historic integrity, architecture and ambiance; must be at least 50 years old; has been designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historic significance," the site says.

So which two Minnesota hotels made the Historic Hotels of America list this year?

That'd be the St. Paul Hotel (in... wait for it... St. Paul), and the St. James Hotel in Red Wing. The St. James was built all the way back in 1875 along the Mississippi River, and when it opened it boasted "steam heat, hot and cold running water, and a state-of-the-art kitchen," the site says. Cool!

The St. Paul Hotel, meanwhile, was built a little more recently, in 1910, and overlooks Rice Park in downtown St. Paul. It was built by Lucius P. Ordway and was (and still is) known for its "sophistication, superlative service and gracious accommodations," the site says.